I joined Torry Harris Business Solutions after working for several other companies. The companies I’d worked for were both MNCs and start-ups. I have to say that Torry Harris has the best of both worlds. It has just enough structure and policies to avoid a start-up’s chaos and enough freedom for its employees to really deliver. Not too much of office politics or the private bureaucracy to deal with to get things done.
CEO is a nice guy and totally down to earth. There aren’t too many useless middle management or "C-suite" designations. You report to a manager who reports to a BU head and that’s that. Even HR is highly utilitarian. They operate quite smoothly because they’re a small unit for such a large company.
In my first day, I spent exactly 1 hour with formalities, there were no frills, no elaborate ritual of joining. I hit the ground running, discussed my goals and started on my first project. The rest of my career in THBS has been like that as well. I have the freedom to set my goals and help the company grow. My colleagues who were working on projects that needed them to travel were immediately sent abroad regardless of time spent in the company. I’ve not just traveled to the usual UK/US when my bosses thought I was about to quit. Been to several interesting places around the world, executing projects in Tanzania, UAE, Austria, in addition to the usual suspects.
In that way and several others, THBS is as close to a meritocracy as a real world operation can get.
Appraisals have been fair and regular. Very few people get promoted because "they’ve been here for more time" or things like that. A good fraction of the people I know have been here for more than 7 years, most for more than 4 years because they like the company. Location also has something to do with it.
The main office is in the heart of Bangalore, near Cunningham Road. I uploaded a picture of the Sona Towers office. Don’t know if others can see it. The light at dusk is just beautiful the way it bounces between the branches of the banyan tree. Anyway, so I don’t have to to wait for a cab. And when I was briefly posted to the other Bangalore facility, well, that was in the CBD too, near the Unity Building. The offices aren’t swanky and no, we don’t have a large campus but our TT table has the coolest players and we love the fact that we’re not beyond the military shooting range, 20 km from Bangalore like many other IT companies are.
Clients seem to appreciate the way we work too. Practically every major telco in Europe works with us on specialized requirements that they can’t get done anywhere else. Our niche expertise also works very well with banks in Europe and America, the company has posted growth for 32 straight quarters and we’ve done things that I’m really proud of. Especially, in Africa. My personal experience has been that we DON’t miss deadlines.
Of course, I’ll also have to talk about insurance benefits and pay. I’m obviously not going to put down how much I make, but suffice to say that several people have come back to my team after going to work for our larger competitors like IBM. It’s not like THBS pays less. If skills are good and proven THBS is a good paymaster.
On average people STAY with Torry Harris for a lot longer than your average IT company. Because of all the reasons I mentioned above.
Is THBS perfect? No. But it’s been a big part of my career growth. It’s paid my rent for the last few years, my kids fees and my EMIs. I cannot help but feel a certain sense of loyalty and camaraderie with the fine people that make up this company. I joined thinking I would do a job for a year and move on with a pay hike to some other company, instead I’ve found a career that I am proud of.
Wow, I really ended up writing a lot more words than I intended.